Resident of Yeisk, Oleg Smolin applied to the Committee Against Torture. The applicant told human rights defenders that his son Ilya died after he was taken to the police department and the temporary detention facility. According to the applicant, on 12 January he learned that his son was taken by the police, and on 26 January the fact of death was confirmed to him.  

There were numerous hematomas and bruises on Ilya Smolin’s body. According to the police officers, he got these injuries during his epileptic seizure. His father told the lawyers with the Committee Against Torture that Ilya had such seizures from time to time, but they always passed quickly. According to the medical expert examination, the death was caused by chronic toxic (alcohol) affection of internal organs.  

In April, the Investigative Committee passed a ruling dismissing the claim to open a criminal case based on the fact of Smolin’s death, however, this ruling was quashed as illegal and ungrounded, and additional check is ongoing. Lawyers with the Committee Against Torture started a public investigation.   

“What raises questions with us is the late hospitalization from the temporary detention facility, the quality of the support provided by the staff of this establishment, and the ambulance team, as well as objectivity of the performed medical forensic examination and the correctness of the established causes of death”, – lawyer with the Committee Ilya Platonov comments.   It is worth noting that it is not the first case in the practice of the Krasnodar branch of the Committee Against Torture when the police officers insist that the death of the apprehended was caused by an epilepsy seizure.